1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic shirt pressing apparatus which includes a vacuum system. The present invention also relates to a method for using such an apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various apparatus and methods are known for pressing garments, specifically shirts. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,241,373, 3,070,268; 3,174,662 and 5,065,535 disclose shirt pressing machines which rotate a plurality of bucks between at least a dressing or loading station and a pressing station. Above-mentioned Pat. No. 5,065,535 is commonly owned with and the inventors are the same as the inventors of this invention. This patent discloses a basic indexing system similar to the one described herein.
It is known that fully dressing or buttoning the front of a shirt to be pressed is too time consuming and therefore impractical. Thus, various means have been developed to hold the front tail of a shirt against the buck for transport to the pressing station and for subsequent pressing of the shirt. Typically, the means are either a rod or an elongated plate which clamps the front tail of the shirt against the buck. These known devices, however, suffer from the disadvantage that when the shirt is pressed in the pressing station, an imprint of the rod or plate is pressed into the front tail of the shirt. Removal of the rod or plate just prior to pressing is not practical as the shirt may become displaced on the buck before pressing. The displacement of the shirt results in improper pressing of the shirt in the form of unwanted folds or wrinkles.
To remedy the disadvantage of obtaining a pressed shirt with an impression of the bar or plate along the front tail of the shirt, an automatic shirt pressing apparatus including a vacuum system for holding the front tail of the shirt against the buck has been developed. This known vacuum system operates using a two chamber vacuum system to apply a vacuum to hold the shirt against the buck at both the loading station and the pressing station. However, during the transfer of the shirt from the loading station to the pressing station, the vacuum is released for a brief moment and the shirt is released momentarily. When the vacuum is reestablished, the shirt may not be in its original position and wrinkles or unwanted folds may be pressed into the shirt as a result. Thus, while this known vacuum system avoids leaving the impression of a holding means in the front tail of the shirt, it does not provide satisfactory results.